Executive Summary
Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union
Technology Plan
Written: 10 Nov 2004
Approved by DOE: 30 Dec 2004

History/Status

The 2002 OSSU Transitional Plans addressed many significant needs of the district. The plan’s development and implementation coincided with a change in leadership at the district level and encompassed many of the existing initiatives as well as provided vision for district-wide growth.

There were many successes at the district level as well as in the individual classrooms in the supervisory union. However, three stand out as significant to the further growth of the district’s technology capacity. Among the most important was the development of an access point at Hazen Union High School that provides high-speed access to all schools in the district. This development enables schools to access material via the connection and provides a network environment that will support further growth. A challenge arose in the development of a district –wide high-speed network. Given that the technological landscape is constantly changing, it was difficult to provide a WAN to schools that are geographically isolated. This has required collaboration among all of the stakeholders to devise creative solutions to ensure that Internet service is adequate and uninterrupted. Another significant development occurred with the hiring of a technology consultant to coordinate the efforts of the district to ensure that resources are maximized, systems are maintained, and efforts are coordinated to achieve the overall goals of the system. Finally, the plan addressed the need to support procurement policies that increase access to technology for all students in the district. These successes provide the platform from which the new OSSU Technology plan was developed.

Conversely, there were challenges that affected the overall implementation of the plan. One of the most significant is the geographic and cultural separation of the schools in the district. Each school in the district maintains its own school board, policies, and local control. Therefore, any system-wide plan must take into account the uniqueness of the individual circumstances of each town, which became burdensome; this challenge remains. More specifically, each school developed and maintained its own technology plan that reflected the individual needs of the school, and bringing those plans together into a district-wide plan has been difficult. Providing a systemic professional development program that addresses that plan’s goals presents an on-going challenge. Other higher priority initiatives required by statutory regulations detracted from the amount of time and focus that could be devoted to professional development targeted at integrating technology into the curriculum. Additionally, defining both student and teacher standards on a K-12 continuum has been difficult due to competing priorities and increased demands on instructional and inservice time. Lastly, systemically identifying and incorporating best-practice strategies for integrating technology was not accomplished to its fullest extent.

The new OSSU plan takes into account the individual needs of each school in the district while providing the broad terms for technology integration into the school programs. This plan balances the need and desire of the district to share and coordinate resources among all of the schools, while maintaining the autonomy to respond immediately and effectively to the needs that arise at the individual building level. Care was taken in the development of this plan to create goals that apply to all of the schools existing action plans and allow for multiple levels of implementation that can provide opportunities for growth at individually appropriate levels. While providing the leadership to enumerate the district’s technology goals, this plan recognizes the creative and locally relevant expertise that is required to meet the goals.

Given the constraints of coordinating and consolidating several individual technology plans, the district leadership focused on providing the resources that schools needed to implement technology at the local level. In addition, the district leadership developed the technology plan based on existing resources and requirements and facilitated growth, particularly in the area of infrastructure and access. The district leadership supported the plan through efforts to provide the framework through which individual schools could begin to pursue a coordinated supervisory union approach.

Leadership Needs

With the new OSSU plan, leadership efforts will be more focused on a systemic approach to integrating technology into the school buildings and classrooms to improve student learning. Through the administrative team, the district leaders will have access to the most current technology and the tools to model its use either through example or through identifying teacher leaders who can facilitate its integration into the classroom. In addition, the administrative team will be informed of the plan’s development and asked for input regarding its implementation and the priority it holds with regards to school action plan goals. With supervisory union leadership focused on the overall district goals, the administrative team’s role will be to facilitate the implementation of the goals at the local level.

Six Elements

Professional Development: The OSSU Technology plan identifies professional development needs and formulates a system to address those needs through district initiatives as well as individual teacher-led opportunities for professional growth.

Standards for Students, Teachers, and Leaders: Students, teachers and leaders advancement in the use of technology as a tool to support learning will be informed by state and federal standards such as IT GCEs (Information Technology Grade Cluster Expectations), ISTE’s (International Society for Technology in Education), NETSS (National Educational Technology Standards for Students), and NETST (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers).

Support for Information Technology Initiatives: Individual schools have begun to include technology procurement provisions in local budgets, and will continue to fund technology support positions. In addition, Title grant money is allocated based on student population and economic need. Also, district personnel will plan and coordinate professional development opportunities in conjunction with release days.

Program Policies: The individual and supervisory union boards have supported technology initiatives through funding and policy direction, leaving appropriate administrative oversight to building and district leadership.

Overall Program Assessments: We have identified a need to develop an assessment tool and action steps to determine the level of integration into the curriculum, student and teacher skills, and professional development needs.

Access and Infrastructure: Given limited resources, all of the supervisory union schools have made progress towards increasing access for students and teachers. The infrastructures and computing environments vary from school to school; however the supervisory union collaboration for the WAN ensures equity and enables all schools to benefit from a high degree of access.